I opened a word document written last year. (I have Word 2003). It asked
whether I would like to have it converted. I ticked yes to the default box.
It has converted to something which comes as boxes on a previously normal
word text. When I try to open the document, it says select the encoding that
makes the document readable. There are 3 options, including MS-Dos, default
Windows and Other. None of the options works to make the document readable.
Help. Its an important document

This can be a symptom of certain worms/viruses. You should make sure that
your A/V software is up to date, and scan for viruses.

Make a copy of the file and try opening the copy using File - Open - set
Files of Type to "Recover text...", do you see any viable text, or does it
look like gibberish?

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Please respond in the newsgroups so everyone can follow along.
http://www.herbtyson.com
"shabir11" wrote in message
...
I opened a word document written last year. (I have Word 2003). It asked
whether I would like to have it converted. I ticked yes to the default
box.
It has converted to something which comes as boxes on a previously normal
word text. When I try to open the document, it says select the encoding
that
makes the document readable. There are 3 options, including MS-Dos,
default
Windows and Other. None of the options works to make the document
readable.
Help. Its an important document

I am very grateful for the response. I scanned the document with Norton
antivirus which was renewed 2 weeks ago. It is clear of virus from that scan.
I made a copy of the file and opened it up. I am afraid I could not find a
tab that could be set to Recover Text... when I ticked the 'open' tab.
Anyway, when the copy file was opened, the same gibberish appeared. I am at a
loss.
"Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote:

This can be a symptom of certain worms/viruses. You should make sure that
your A/V software is up to date, and scan for viruses.

Make a copy of the file and try opening the copy using File - Open - set
Files of Type to "Recover text...", do you see any viable text, or does it
look like gibberish?

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Please respond in the newsgroups so everyone can follow along.
http://www.herbtyson.com
"shabir11" wrote in message
...
I opened a word document written last year. (I have Word 2003). It asked
whether I would like to have it converted. I ticked yes to the default
box.
It has converted to something which comes as boxes on a previously normal
word text. When I try to open the document, it says select the encoding
that
makes the document readable. There are 3 options, including MS-Dos,
default
Windows and Other. None of the options works to make the document
readable.
Help. Its an important document

Choose File - Open. At the bottom of the dialog box, there is a field called
"Files of type:" At the right end, there is a dropdown arrow. Click that
arrow and see if one of the choices is "Recover text from any file".

The idea is to use this feature to see if the files you're trying to open
actually contain any viable text, or if they are gibberish of the type that
might indicate a virus or worm. If the file contains viable text, then it's
probably corrupted. If it's all gibberish, then it's either actually
encoded, or something else has scrambled it (I'd suspect a virus, but it
sounds like you've closed that possibility).

Do other files seem to work okay? I.e., is it just this file? It's possible
that this file has gotten corrupted for some reason, and that no amount of
effort is going to rescue it. Ordinarily, if saved as a Word document, you
won't be prompted in this way. It will just open.

If a file was saved as encoded text, then you will be prompted, but one of
the encoding options will work to make the text readable.

If a file wasn't saved as encoded, but you get the prompt anyway, then that
would suggest that the file has become corrupted.

And, if a who bunch of files turn up acting this way, then that would
suggest either that the disk used to store the files has gone bad, or that a
virus or worm is at work.

If you'd like, you can email the file to me, and I can take a look. Send to
.

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Please respond in the newsgroups so everyone can follow along.
http://www.herbtyson.com
"shabir11" wrote in message
...
I am very grateful for the response. I scanned the document with Norton
antivirus which was renewed 2 weeks ago. It is clear of virus from that
scan.
I made a copy of the file and opened it up. I am afraid I could not find a
tab that could be set to Recover Text... when I ticked the 'open' tab.
Anyway, when the copy file was opened, the same gibberish appeared. I am
at a
loss.
"Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote:

This can be a symptom of certain worms/viruses. You should make sure that
your A/V software is up to date, and scan for viruses.

Make a copy of the file and try opening the copy using File - Open - set
Files of Type to "Recover text...", do you see any viable text, or does
it
look like gibberish?

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Please respond in the newsgroups so everyone can follow along.
http://www.herbtyson.com
"shabir11" wrote in message
...
I opened a word document written last year. (I have Word 2003). It asked
whether I would like to have it converted. I ticked yes to the default
box.
It has converted to something which comes as boxes on a previously
normal
word text. When I try to open the document, it says select the encoding
that
makes the document readable. There are 3 options, including MS-Dos,
default
Windows and Other. None of the options works to make the document
readable.
Help. Its an important document

Hi everyone,

I have exactly the same problem as Shabir11. I have one document that I
cannot open in a readable format in exactly the same way as below; there are
no other documents with the same problem on our entire server; I have not
personally encoded it so I don't know what to "undo" - I just saved it as a
normal Word document; I have just put the file on my C Drive and scanned the
entire drive for viruses with nothing coming up; I have tried the "recover
text from any file" option as described below with no results... I am totally
at a loss! I have spent the best part of today searching Microsoft Word Help,
Windows Help & the internet trying to find out why this might have happened &
what I can do to recover my document.

I think someone on our network might have accidentally changed something in
the properties and/or opened it and saved it as something else.. but I can't
figure out how to undo it! Our IT Manager looked at it briefly too but
without success. I will of course ask him again asap.

Please help - if anyone knows anything about how to fix this - the document
is the bones of a procedures manual for my job at work and is the combined
work of about a year!

Herb, if you wouldn't mind I would love to send the document to you and see
if you can help in any way. Please let me know.

Thanks.
--
Naomi


"Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote:

Choose File - Open. At the bottom of the dialog box, there is a field called
"Files of type:" At the right end, there is a dropdown arrow. Click that
arrow and see if one of the choices is "Recover text from any file".

The idea is to use this feature to see if the files you're trying to open
actually contain any viable text, or if they are gibberish of the type that
might indicate a virus or worm. If the file contains viable text, then it's
probably corrupted. If it's all gibberish, then it's either actually
encoded, or something else has scrambled it (I'd suspect a virus, but it
sounds like you've closed that possibility).

Do other files seem to work okay? I.e., is it just this file? It's possible
that this file has gotten corrupted for some reason, and that no amount of
effort is going to rescue it. Ordinarily, if saved as a Word document, you
won't be prompted in this way. It will just open.

If a file was saved as encoded text, then you will be prompted, but one of
the encoding options will work to make the text readable.

If a file wasn't saved as encoded, but you get the prompt anyway, then that
would suggest that the file has become corrupted.

And, if a who bunch of files turn up acting this way, then that would
suggest either that the disk used to store the files has gone bad, or that a
virus or worm is at work.

If you'd like, you can email the file to me, and I can take a look. Send to
.

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Please respond in the newsgroups so everyone can follow along.
http://www.herbtyson.com
"shabir11" wrote in message
...
I am very grateful for the response. I scanned the document with Norton
antivirus which was renewed 2 weeks ago. It is clear of virus from that
scan.
I made a copy of the file and opened it up. I am afraid I could not find a
tab that could be set to Recover Text... when I ticked the 'open' tab.
Anyway, when the copy file was opened, the same gibberish appeared. I am
at a
loss.
"Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote:

This can be a symptom of certain worms/viruses. You should make sure that
your A/V software is up to date, and scan for viruses.

Make a copy of the file and try opening the copy using File - Open - set
Files of Type to "Recover text...", do you see any viable text, or does
it
look like gibberish?

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Please respond in the newsgroups so everyone can follow along.
http://www.herbtyson.com
"shabir11" wrote in message
...
I opened a word document written last year. (I have Word 2003). It asked
whether I would like to have it converted. I ticked yes to the default
box.
It has converted to something which comes as boxes on a previously
normal
word text. When I try to open the document, it says select the encoding
that
makes the document readable. There are 3 options, including MS-Dos,
default
Windows and Other. None of the options works to make the document
readable.
Help. Its an important document

Have you tried using the Open and Repair option? Use Windows
Explorer or My Computer to make a copy of the original file, and
then in Word, click on File | Open, browse to your copy of the
file, click on the little black downward-pointing triangle at the
right end of the Open button, and choose Open and Repair.

If you have an IT Manager and an entire server, then you should
also have backups of the file, and you might try restoring the
file from a backup.

Naomi wrote:
Hi everyone,

I have exactly the same problem as Shabir11. I have one document that I
cannot open in a readable format in exactly the same way as below; there are
no other documents with the same problem on our entire server; I have not
personally encoded it so I don't know what to "undo" - I just saved it as a
normal Word document; I have just put the file on my C Drive and scanned the
entire drive for viruses with nothing coming up; I have tried the "recover
text from any file" option as described below with no results... I am totally
at a loss! I have spent the best part of today searching Microsoft Word Help,
Windows Help & the internet trying to find out why this might have happened &
what I can do to recover my document.

I think someone on our network might have accidentally changed something in
the properties and/or opened it and saved it as something else.. but I can't
figure out how to undo it! Our IT Manager looked at it briefly too but
without success. I will of course ask him again asap.

Please help - if anyone knows anything about how to fix this - the document
is the bones of a procedures manual for my job at work and is the combined
work of about a year!

Herb, if you wouldn't mind I would love to send the document to you and see
if you can help in any way. Please let me know.

Thanks.

Hi, Naomi,

Yes. Please go ahead and send the file to me. Hopefully, I can figure out
what's going on with it. Send to problem(at-sign)thetysons.org, replacing
the (at-sign) with the appropriate character.

Cheers,

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Please respond in the newsgroups so everyone can follow along.
"Naomi" wrote in message
...
Hi everyone,

I have exactly the same problem as Shabir11. I have one document that I
cannot open in a readable format in exactly the same way as below; there
are
no other documents with the same problem on our entire server; I have not
personally encoded it so I don't know what to "undo" - I just saved it as
a
normal Word document; I have just put the file on my C Drive and scanned
the
entire drive for viruses with nothing coming up; I have tried the "recover
text from any file" option as described below with no results... I am
totally
at a loss! I have spent the best part of today searching Microsoft Word
Help,
Windows Help & the internet trying to find out why this might have
happened &
what I can do to recover my document.

I think someone on our network might have accidentally changed something
in
the properties and/or opened it and saved it as something else.. but I
can't
figure out how to undo it! Our IT Manager looked at it briefly too but
without success. I will of course ask him again asap.

Please help - if anyone knows anything about how to fix this - the
document
is the bones of a procedures manual for my job at work and is the combined
work of about a year!

Herb, if you wouldn't mind I would love to send the document to you and
see
if you can help in any way. Please let me know.

Thanks.
--
Naomi


"Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote:

Choose File - Open. At the bottom of the dialog box, there is a field
called
"Files of type:" At the right end, there is a dropdown arrow. Click that
arrow and see if one of the choices is "Recover text from any file".

The idea is to use this feature to see if the files you're trying to open
actually contain any viable text, or if they are gibberish of the type
that
might indicate a virus or worm. If the file contains viable text, then
it's
probably corrupted. If it's all gibberish, then it's either actually
encoded, or something else has scrambled it (I'd suspect a virus, but it
sounds like you've closed that possibility).

Do other files seem to work okay? I.e., is it just this file? It's
possible
that this file has gotten corrupted for some reason, and that no amount
of
effort is going to rescue it. Ordinarily, if saved as a Word document,
you
won't be prompted in this way. It will just open.

If a file was saved as encoded text, then you will be prompted, but one
of
the encoding options will work to make the text readable.

If a file wasn't saved as encoded, but you get the prompt anyway, then
that
would suggest that the file has become corrupted.

And, if a who bunch of files turn up acting this way, then that would
suggest either that the disk used to store the files has gone bad, or
that a
virus or worm is at work.

If you'd like, you can email the file to me, and I can take a look. Send
to


--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Please respond in the newsgroups so everyone can follow along.
http://www.herbtyson.com
"shabir11" wrote in message
...
I am very grateful for the response. I scanned the document with Norton
antivirus which was renewed 2 weeks ago. It is clear of virus from that
scan.
I made a copy of the file and opened it up. I am afraid I could not
find a
tab that could be set to Recover Text... when I ticked the 'open' tab.
Anyway, when the copy file was opened, the same gibberish appeared. I
am
at a
loss.
"Herb Tyson [MVP]" wrote:

This can be a symptom of certain worms/viruses. You should make sure
that
your A/V software is up to date, and scan for viruses.

Make a copy of the file and try opening the copy using File - Open -
set
Files of Type to "Recover text...", do you see any viable text, or
does
it
look like gibberish?

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Please respond in the newsgroups so everyone can follow along.
http://www.herbtyson.com
"shabir11" wrote in message
...
I opened a word document written last year. (I have Word 2003). It
asked
whether I would like to have it converted. I ticked yes to the
default
box.
It has converted to something which comes as boxes on a previously
normal
word text. When I try to open the document, it says select the
encoding
that
makes the document readable. There are 3 options, including MS-Dos,
default
Windows and Other. None of the options works to make the document
readable.
Help. Its an important document